OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



THE PROMPT

• Meaning?
A particular federal law requires that tenant leases be honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property.
(In other words, if you rent an apartment in a building that gets foreclosed, whoever subsequently owns the foreclosed building must allow you to stay through the end of your lease at the price in that lease.)

THE OPTIONS

• The sentence is grammatical—and abominably written. More on the latter shortly.
→ mandated is often part of a command subjunctive construction (see option E). Not always.

→ Mandated can be followed by a noun or noun phrase, as is the case in this option.
The structure of this option is this one: The federal law mandated X [the right . . .] for Y [tenants] in the event of Z [a foreclosure . . .].
Correct: The new president mandated the wearing of masks by all persons on federal property.

• Although this sentence is grammatical, it is barely comprehensible. This sentence is the epitome of "awkward."
The noun phrase is long. Everything that follows the word mandated is the noun phrase.
This phrasing sounds like bad legalese, in which wordy phrases seem out of order or are hard to follow.
The overall structure of the sentence is exhausting.

But the option is grammatical.
KEEP A, but look for a better answer


• The verb tense shift makes no sense. Is should be was.
Leases were required to be honored even if something happened to the property the tenant IS [now] renting? No.

• This sentence is no prize winner, either.
→ We do not need anything after foreclosure. From context, we already know about everything that follows foreclosure.
→ If tenant leases must be honored, then by definition the leases belong to tenants. What do tenants do? They rent property.
→ The sentence is long-winded. Its passive voice makes the sentence longer.
→ Do not eliminate on the basis of style alone on the first pass.

• Nothing is wrong with according to federal legislation.
• Nothing would be wrong with was renting, either. The phrasing is a little weird, but it is not wrong.
The verb switch is fatal.
ELIMINATE B

• Incorrect construction pertaining to the verb phrase "made mandatory."

→ "Made mandatory" must be followed by a "regular" noun phrase, not an infinitive phrase. If you want to use an infinitive phrase after "made mandatory," you must use it, as I have highlighted in red.
Correct, just a noun phrase: The federal government made mandatory the wearing of masks on federal property.
Correct, a pronoun (it) and an infinitive phrase: The federal government made it mandatory to wear masks on federal property.

This verb phrase is odd and I highly doubt that you will see it. The verb mandated is preferred.

• Another stylistic disaster. These first three options use many words and convoluted phrasing.
If you are not sure about "made mandatory," keep this option, along with A, and look for a better option.
ELIMINATE C

• redundant: the word mandatory means "have to"
ELIMINATE D

• Correct.
This option is written in the "command subjunctive," which is structured this way:
bossy verb [mandated] + THAT + subject [tenant leases] + bare infinitive [be]

This option is concise. It is clearer than all the other options.
Eliminate A.

The correct answer is E

COMMENTS

kalapathi , welcome to SC Butler.

Gotta keep it brief.
I'm glad to see your posts; the options in this question do not lend themselves easily to analysis.
Good explanations and correct answers get kudos.

The federal legislation mandated the right to have their leases honored to tenants in the event of a foreclosure of the land being rented.

For Subjunctive mood -> Subject + Bossy word (mandated) + that + something be past perfect form

A) The federal legislation mandated the right to have their leases honored for tenants in the event of a foreclosure of the property being rented. -> The first thing jumped out is "being rented", Do we need being here. Another issue, It doesn't follow Subjunctive mood construction.

B) Tenant leases were required to be honored in the case of a foreclosure of the property the tenant is renting, according to federal legislation. -> We have "according to federal legislation" at the end of sentence, which doesn't make sense. It is incorrect.

C) The federal legislation made mandatory for tenants to have their leases honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property. -> "made mandatory for tenants to have... is not following subjunctive mood construction It is incorrect.

D) The federal legislation made mandatory that existing tenant leases have to be honored if a rental property is foreclosed. -> Same as C, we don't have perfect Subjunctive mood construction.

E) The federal legislation mandated that tenant leases be honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property. -> The federal legislation (Subject)+ mandated (bossy word)+ that + tenant leases (something) be honored (past perfect form) in the event....It makes sense.

So, I think E.

E might be the answer as in option D "made mandatory" seems redundant.

The federal legislation mandated the right to have their leases honored to tenants in the event of a foreclosure of the land being rented.

A) The federal legislation mandated the right to have their leases honored for tenants in the event of a foreclosure of the property being rented.
SV error -- 'federal legislation' is singular.

B) Tenant leases were required to be honored in the case of a foreclosure of the property the tenant is renting, according to federal legislation.
Wrong tenses... 'required to be honored' vs 'tenant is renting'; it should be 'had rented'.

C) The federal legislation made mandatory for tenants to have their leases honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property.
'made mandatory' is redundant. 'to mandate' something is preferred..

D) The federal legislation made mandatory that existing tenant leases have to be honored if a rental property is foreclosed.
Same reasoning as C.

E) The federal legislation mandated that tenant leases be honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property.
Correct use of subjunctive 'mandated that .. 'be''

The federal legislation mandated the right to have their leases honored to tenants in the event of a foreclosure of the land being rented.

A) The federal legislation mandated the right to have their leases honored for tenants in the event of a foreclosure of the property being rented.

B) Tenant leases were required to be honored in the case of a foreclosure of the property the tenant is renting, according to federal legislation.

C) The federal legislation made mandatory for tenants to have their leases honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property.

D) The federal legislation made mandatory that existing tenant leases have to be honored if a rental property is foreclosed.

E) The federal legislation mandated that tenant leases be honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property.

'The federal legislation mandated' - authoritative/commanding is preferable. Eliminate B,C&D
What mandated......tenant leases be honored. Eliminate A

IMO E
_________________

A) The federal legislation mandated the right to have their leases honored for tenants in the event of a foreclosure of the property being rented.
'Right to have their leases honored for tenants' is very awkward construct. It is like tenants will have to press somebody to have their leases honored.
No usage of bare form of verb is another problem
Eliminate

B) Tenant leases were required to be honored in the case of a foreclosure of the property the tenant is renting, according to federal legislation.
This clearly twists the intended tone of statement. The federal government is passing a mandate and not just stating something.
We can keep until we find better answer.
PS:-Eliminated because we have better choice D

C) The federal legislation made mandatory for tenants to have their leases honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property.
How come tenants will have to have their leases honored? Why transfer onus to tenants ?
Meaning is changed. Eliminate

D) The federal legislation made mandatory that existing tenant leases have to be honored if a rental property is foreclosed.
This is grammatically correct but lacks bare form of verb usage as this is a command subjunctive type.
But we can eliminate B because this looks much better than option B.
Keep.

E) The federal legislation mandated that tenant leases be honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property.
Correct. Base form of verb correctly used
Bossy verb(mandated)+that+
subject(tenant leases)+bare form of verb(be honored)

Therefore E
_________________

The federal legislation mandated the right to have their leases honored to tenants in the event of a foreclosure of the land being rented.

A) The federal legislation mandated the right to have their leases honored for tenants in the event of a foreclosure of the property being rented. Incorrect

subjunctive form - after mandate that require

B) Tenant leases were required to be honored in the case of a foreclosure of the property the tenant is renting, according to federal legislation. Incorrect

changes meaning, subjunctive form missing

C) The federal legislation made mandatory for tenants to have their leases honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property. Incorrect

subjunctive form - after mandate that require

D) The federal legislation made mandatory that existing tenant leases have to be honored if a rental property is foreclosed. Incorrect

subjunctive form - have uses wrong

E) The federal legislation mandated that tenant leases be honored in the event of a foreclosed rental property. Correct

The official explanation is here.